


Belief and Magic Carpets

by jolybird



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Fred's Not Dead
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-06
Updated: 2016-04-06
Packaged: 2018-05-31 14:55:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6474775
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jolybird/pseuds/jolybird
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When George and Luna both go off on month long trips (and George quite suddenly), it’s Fred’s twinly duty to investigate (and since he left the shop in such good hands, it wouldn’t be the end of the world if he took his time doing it).</p>
            </blockquote>





	Belief and Magic Carpets

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written for [Interhouse Fest 2015](http://interhouse-fest.livejournal.com/118051.html). I just realized I never added it here so ~here it is~.

“Lovegood’s doing what?” Fred asked as he swung around the corner, causing both Ron and Verity to flinch.  
  
“Would you stop doing that?” Ron demanded, fixing the Ten-Second Pimple Vanishers he had knocked aside in his surprise.  
  
“You can’t counter a question with a question, darling brother. It’s just rude.”  
  
“Luna’s going off to Mongolia on her own to look for a hornless dictionary.” Ron deadpanned.  
  
“A hornless dictionary?” Verity asked, crossing her arms and taking a step away from the Wonder Witch display.  
  
“Well that’s what it sounded like,” Ron grumbled and then turned back to the potions he was affixing prices to, “She’s leaving the day after tomorrow and apparently Neville offered to go with her but she was pretty adamant about going alone.”  
  
Fred frowned in sudden suspicion, “When’s she getting back?”  
  
“Didn’t say. But she won’t miss Gin’s first Hollyhead match of the season so before next month.”  
  
“Hm.” Fred said.  
  
Verity turned to Ron, “I don’t like it when he makes that face.”  
  
Ron pointedly didn’t look at his older brother. “Where’d you say George was off to?”  
  
“I didn’t.”  
  
“He didn’t say. I was there when he took off.” Verity supplied and Ron stopped what he was doing to look at the two of them.  
  
“Oh yeah, cause that’s not suspicious.”  
  
Fred leaned against the wall and crossed his arms. “Oh it’s highly suspicious. He said he’d be gone for a month.”  
  
“A month.” Ron echoed.  
  
“A month.”  
  
“…has he gone with Luna?”  
  
“That, my dear brother, is something worth looking into. They’ve been having lunch together lately.”  
  
Before Ron could comment, Verity rolled her eyes dramatically, “Sure. Both of you bugger off during the busy season. Not a big deal, your brother and I can handle the onslaught of Hogwarts students clamoring for their beginning of the year supply of Skiving Snackboxes and Daydream Charms.”  
  
“Woah—no one said anything about him buggering off as well.”  
  
Fred, however, was already shooting finger guns at Verity and backing away towards the back of the shop where there was a stairway that lead to his and George’s flat. “Cheers, Verity. I’ll be back as soon as I can!”  
  
“You have three days!”  
  
“Less than that!”  
  
Verity looked around the shop, hands on her hips. “Maybe we should call in reinforcements. What’s your cute brother up to these days.”  
  
“I don’t know how to answer that.”  
  
“Oh you know the one—glasses, used to work with the Ministry.”  
  
“ _Percy_? Percy’s the cute one? I’ll never understand you Ravenclaws.”  
  
Verity hit him, laughing, “And yet here we are, running a business together for the next couple of days.”  
  
“Fred better get his arse back here fast. I don’t even actually work here. I’m an auror, you know. I was injured. I’m supposed to be taking it easy.”  
  
*  
  
It took Fred nearly a week to locate Luna. His first course of action was to show up at her and Ginny’s flat in London while Ginny should have been training in Wales. Hiccup one: Ginny was home and highly suspicious of her older brother wanting to “leaf through” her roommates work. It had taken nearly an hour of explaining and one location charm for Ginny to believe that he was telling the truth: George wasn’t in London and he thought he was with Luna. Ginny then proceeded to help him look through Luna’s notes for clues as to where, exactly, in Mongolia she went. As it turns out Luna had been alluding to seeing someone and Ginny was mildly outraged that _someone_ might in fact be her older brother—Hermione had been bad enough she had said right before they found a map. An area in north eastern Mongolia had been circled. Ginny had momentarily thought about going with him but a conveniently timed floo call had her pushing Fred out the door without so much as a _good luck_.  
  
Upon arriving in Mongolia, Fred immediately bought himself a magic carpet, mostly for the entertainment value. He didn’t actually use it until he reached the circled area and he decided he could cover more ground from the sky. Chances were, Luna was camped out in the middle of nowhere. He was notoriously bad at tracking spells so he went round in circles for two days straight in which he began to panic that the pair of them weren’t in Mongolia at all. Ron and Harry brought home rumors of Death Eaters still at large and, although he’d never speak it out loud, those two days brought back the nagging ever-present fear of walking into the Burrow to see his brother covered in blood, the look on Harry’s face when he and their father arrived: the physical expression of _your twin might not be okay_. And Luna had been kidnapped. She had been kidnapped in broad daylight. Spirited away like it was nothing. Ginny had cried for days after learning Luna was missing. It still made Fred sick to think about it—Luna had been just a child then—only just sixteen. She never really spoke about her time in the Malfoy Manor—at least, not like Dean Thomas did—he freely exploited it to get free pints at the Leaky Cauldron. The closest Fred ever heard Luna mention it was right after the war ended at a funeral (that summer had been full of funerals). Her father had mentioned that he wasn’t planning on reopening the Quibbler and Luna had shouted about how absurd the very notion of it was. They could hurt them as many times as they liked, she had said, but the information was more important. The words had to get out. Part of the reason Voldemort had rose to power so easily was because of a lack of information. A lack of belief. People needed proof and their magazine would give them proof. There had been applause after she finished speaking, her father had cried and the daughter of the wizard whose service it was was now on the Quibbler’s writing staff. All in all it had been one of the more productive services.   
  
Actually, thinking back, George had looked a little wonderstruck at her impromptu speech. Perhaps he shouldn’t be as surprised by this development as he was (if, in fact, that’s what was going on. The tracking spells indicated they were together but not, well, _together_ ).  
  
Fred had been floating above the river, enjoying the warm day (his life had been pretty much nonstop work after deciding to reopen five years ago so sue him for enjoying this), feet dangling off the carpet when he rounded a bend and saw a figure standing in the middle of the river.  
  
His last tracking spell indicated they were close, but not quite _this_ close.  
  
Luna looked up, her eyes magnified by her goggles. Her hair was pulled up into a messy bun in which she had stuck her wand and she was in the river so deep that her rain boots—patterned with the Holyhead Harpies logo—were nearly rendered useless.  
  
“Oh.” She gasped and pushed her goggles up. “Is everything okay?”  
  
“I—“ Fred began because he had literally just bumped into her. “Yes?”  
  
“Ginny’s alright? Harry? Ron? Your parents?”  
  
“No yeah, everyone’s fine. Why wouldn’t they be?”  
  
Luna watched him for a moment, confusion starting to bloom on her face. “Because you’re in Mongolia…?”  
  
“Oh. George didn’t say where he was going and when I found out you were going off on an—expedition alone I was curious.”  
  
“I can respect curiosity.” Luna smiled, and then waved him over as she started to make her way to shore. “I didn’t know George didn’t tell anyone he was coming with me though.”  
  
“You told everyone you were going alone.” Fred hopped off the carpet and rolled it up. It was awkward and bulky to carry and he watched Luna hide a smile.  
  
Luna shrugged a moment later, “I thought I was. Everyone’s so busy, it didn’t make sense logistically for them to take a month off. Neville insisted, but Professor Sprout’s training him to take over for her once she retires. I don’t think he’s noticed yet.”  
  
“He definitely hasn’t. Ron says Neville keeps going on about how nice it is when Pomona thinks of him when she needs a favor.”  
  
Luna smiled and shook her head, “I hope she tells him soon, he’s going to be so excited. But—when I left England I was alone. George caught up with me in Hungary.”  
  
“Really?”  
  
Luna nodded, a smile on her face. “I have a friend who works with a grindylow population in the Danube, right in the heart of Budapest. She thinks there’s been some cross breeding with kappas. It’s really rather incredible because it’s caused their magic to evolve in a very interesting way. We were having tea when George arrived. Your mother must be worried sick about him.”  
  
“He’s an adult.” Fred replied quickly, “Besides, she doesn’t even know he’s left.”  
  
The blonde sent him a withering look, “Don’t be silly. Of course your mother knows. It’s her job to know. George seemed to not know what he was doing there at first. Then he explained how he sort of panicked when he thought of not seeing me for a month, which is very flattering, but I was only going to be gone for a short while.”  
  
“He really likes you.” Fred blurted out belatedly. On this side of the river, it was really obvious and he didn’t know how everyone missed it.  
  
Luna smiled in a way that made it clear she knew _exactly_ how much George liked her. “Come on, he’s making lunch at camp.”  
  
*  
When Luna and Fred walked into the clearing where there was a tiny tent set up, George glanced up from where he was lazily slicing carrots with his wand over a boiling pot on the fire. He raised an eyebrow, “That better be my twin and you haven’t been kidnapped again by a Leshy who’s decided to take the form of the most attractive bloke you know.”  
  
“What the hell’s a Leshy.” Fred demanded as Luna laughed.  
  
“Cestmir didn’t kidnap me. That’s all mythology.” She turned to Fred, “Leshy are like Metamorphmagus except they can transform into plants and animals as well as change their appearance. They’re like Veelas in that the more pureblooded they are, the stronger their powers.”  
  
“Ron said you were out here looking for something that sounded like hornless dictionary. Not Leshy.”  
  
“Well, we’re actually out here looking for Imberranas. They’re these frog-like creatures that live—“  
  
“Sorry. Wait.” George interrupted, looking at Fred. “Before we get into that. Why the bloody hell are you here?”  
  
“ _You_ didn’t tell anyone where you were going!” Luna all but shouted, hitting George on the shoulder.  
  
“I didn’t really think about it. I made an impulse decision. It didn’t even sink in until I was in Hungary.”  
  
“I thought for sure you’d have sent a message home at the very least.”  
  
“I might have if my girlfriend didn’t have us camped out in the middle of nowhere Mongolia.”  
  
“You’re a wizard!”  
  
“Girlfriend?” Fred asked, biting back a relieved smile. Damn straight his twin wasn’t as oblivious as Ron.  
  
“We had the discussion last night actually—after we had some truly incredible—“  
  
“No stop!” Fred and George both cried in unison and Luna put a hand over her mouth to stifle her laugh.  
  
“You know I used to wonder why you and Ginny were best friends.” Fred told the woman, who simply smiled back at him serenely.  
  
George narrowed his eyebrows, crossed his arms and leaned forward all in one motion. “So you come out here to look for me yourself because you realize that you could use a break. Who’s watching the shop?”  
  
“Ron and Verity. Maybe Percy? I heard his name thrown around a bit.” Fred shrugged, “I trust Verity. But I should probably be getting back. Of course I took my time searching for you two. This is the first break either of us had since we reopened after the war.”  
  
“You can have a month once we get back.”  
  
“I already have it planned.”  
  
“George’s told me that between the two of you, you’re a better chef.” Luna interrupted, indicating the boiling pot filled with what was probably (maybe?) soup.  
  
“Honestly, I don’t know how you two haven’t starved yet. He’s useless and I’ve heard horror stories about your cooking, Lovegood.”  
  
“They were mostly likely justified.” She simply replied, leaning into George. “Feel free to make extra for us to have for supper.”  
  
“I can’t in good conscious leave you to starve, since you’re stuck in the middle of nowhere with a man who once set an entire loaf of bread on fire while attempting to spice up a bowl of Cheeri Owls.”  
  
Luna turned her attention to George seamlessly, waiting for an explanation.  
  
“Too much Firewhiskey?” She offered when George remained silent.  
  
“Nope.” Fred laughed.  
  
“Oh, come on, what did you do to them?”  
  
“I was trying to simultaneously crisp them up and add pumpkin only it was early—very early—and I didn’t exactly look up from where I had my head on the table. The bread was an unfortunate casualty.”  
  
“The bread was in the cabinet _behind_ him.”  
  
Luna raised her eyebrows and looked to George who shrugged helplessly. “Well, it’s a good thing you’re in the business of blowing things up then, yes?”  
  
“The shop didn’t come by accident.” He agreed.  
  
“So, _Luna_ ,” Fred leaned towards the food bag looking for some way to salvage the soup, “Tell me more about these frogs.”  
  
“Biologically they’re not related to frogs at all. They just have a similar appearance.” Luna began immediately, her eyes lighting up. Fred glanced to George and was struck by the level of fondness in his eyes; it bordered on adoration. He smiled and turned back into Luna’s explanation. _The Quibbler would give people proof_ she had said all that time ago and she had gone beyond keeping her word—she had discovered four new magical creature species in the past two years alone.  
  
*  
  
When Fred walked back into Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes shortly after closing later that day (apparition made international travel _so_ easy, he pitied the muggles who had to make due with planes), he was greeted by both Harry and Hermione trapped in a portable swamp while Ron and Bill laughed hysterically. Verity was at his side instantly. “So?”  
  
“George and Lovegood are shacking up in Mongolia. Gin was right.”  
  
“Excuse me?” Hermione asked shrilly from in the swamp.  
  
Ginny waved her off with a cry of, “Yes! You owe me ten gallons, Ron!”  
  
Ron’s laughter faded out into grumbles, “Shouldn’t you be at practice?”  
  
Ginny waved him off, “I can apparate there in two seconds.”  
  
“How did you two get in there?”  
  
“Harry had a slight altercation with a rogue band of pygmy puffs.” Verity informed Fred solemnly.  
  
Ginny leaned against the counter, a worried frown on her lips. “The two of them are okay, though?”  
  
“The two of them are going to be worse than you and Harry. Especially since I have to live with the bloody lovestuck git.”  
  
“Oh you poor thing.” Harry told him, and then he and Hermione screamed as Fred flicked his wand and the pair was doused with a wave of swamp water.


End file.
